Painting in Warwick Thursday

My head is spinning over all the work I have to do around the house. Being a city kid yard work is not in my vernacular also make no bones about it, hate house cleaning as well. Should have been born a princess with a fleet of maids and gardeners to tend to my needs. My two grand nieces are into this princess thing. Madison, who just turned three is so into the Little Mermaid scene. She calls her grandmother, Ursala which I get a perverse kick out of and her Dad, is Prince Eric. It is so funny how unique, we are right out of the womb. How we can become so homgenized, if we allow ourselves to be as we mature.


The Group of Nine has a show in the Warwick Library coming up in November.  Today, checked out the present show down there. The artist is an acquaintance and took the group's concept of painting the town and ran with it. They told us about it and said, they would only do the downtown area. They sure did every nook and cranny plus some of the local landscapes. They are a good artist too boot.  Now, the gauntlet is down to be more creative and see the town from a truly unique perspective.  As an outsider visiting a town going to need to absorb the flavor and view it on its emotional level rather than just a visual copy of the buildings and landscapes.  Think down deep we all try to do that but most of the time just mimic or copy what we see and not absorb the emotional vibe of a place. Always felt that was very important in art to catch the vibe, energy or soul of the subject. My early work tended to be personifications of in animate objects.Think that is why love VanGogh's work because it is so emotionally charged and then other pieces evoke emotions from us in other ways.  Heard people fall in love with a piece because it reminded them of something, a place, thing or a feeling. So how to emotionally charge a landscape? Make it come alive using water and pigment...have a lot to ponder tonight...why is the sky blue and more.


  I went into "buzzard" mode scouting a painting location and took a drive down to Pine Island/Warwick area. Couldn't believe the huge lakes that were really  farms, it was heart breaking. We think the poor farmers  and their financial losses but it is also all the man hours, the field workers and the packers. 

Tonight someone emailed me this link, of colored slides from the 1939--43  from the Library of Congress.  sort of timely with thinking about farmers and stuff.

  http://extras.denverpost.com/archive/captured.asp

My "Buzzard Mobile" shot down by friendly fire

What a nice day...off the Bear Mt Inn to paint. Stopped for a bagel and over heard some conversations about how bad the storm damage was in the park. Trees down, roads washed out and a dam on the Harriman estate broke. Met up with one of the painters, we went to move the cars in the lot to be seen better. I parked and then "wham". My ice tea in the dashboard  cup holder went flying as my mind registered what the"wham" was after my head snapped back in position. My poor Fit got hit in the rear drivers side. A friend lost her brakes as they were parking behind me.  Needless to say that ended my thoughts of  painting for the day.The park police came and wrote the report. Dropped car off at a body shop and was lucky to get a rental car. Got a Toyota Sienna, cool mini van, as soon as the adjuster comes I will be put into a roller skate as soon as one becomes available. Live out of my car so, transferring my belongings from the Fit to the Sienna was twenty minutes of sweaty labor, no comments from the peanut gallery. I was so calm all day, it is getting scary. Not that I was ever high strung or that easily angered (maybe not true on this one)   but this super mellowness is new to me. Hearing myself utter,  "It's better to hit me in a parking lot than, if you lost your brakes in traffic or on a winding (spell?) road. " Wouldn't have never come out of my mouth a few years ago . More like "Oh, SH-T!!!!!!!!" or "My CARrrrr!" Who is this mellow creature living in my body? Did she develop from well over ten years of what I thought was useless therapy and old age. Scary...

My "Buzzard Mobile" shot down by friendly fire or my Hit Fit

 Next week going to try and get up to the Basha Kill most likely on Thursday. I have to find out how the roads are up there. Still getting over seeing all the local damage. It was sad to pass houses with stuff piled in the yard or driveway. The most pathetic and heartbreaking sight was, Weirs being cleaned up, it is one of the best ice cream places in this area. sigh....

Last minute .....Bear Mountain Aug 31

I wanted to cash in on the beautiful weather and go back up to the Basha Kill. The Irene aftermath of washed out roads and bridges decided to stay closer to home. Bear Mt around 10am tomorrow. Planning to go back to Bear Mt on a Saturday sometime in mid to late September.

Saranac and More

Coming home last Sunday was a joy. We were worried that the weather was going to be bad between Saranac Lake and home. It turned out the weather system was out of the area. A week later, we sit here waiting for a hurricane to hit after a week where many people expierienced an earthquake for the first time.   


 The Saranac trip was great, we had great weather. Being the second time for me and being familar with the terrain made it far less stressful. The area is so pretty. Came from Lake Piseco and the views along Rt 30 into Saranac, were a painter's dream. There was one lake that the road crossed that had several small seaplanes docked and a lake where the sky was hued in peach glow just breathtaking. The first day is optional painting of the town, where the artists donate a 5x7 painting for a local charity, this year is was for the Historic Restoration Group.
Call my car, "The Buzzard Mobile" since tending to circle an area many times till a view captures my artistic eye and touches my soul. Spotted this bright yellow canoe in the window of a music store next door to a small nursery. Three passes later parked and set up my easel just behind my car.  My only regret was losing my New England Patriots mug that fell under my car and I forgot to pick it up.

Ampersound Music Store

The next morning we were to paint at Paul Smith's College Visitor Center. There was a scene that I wanted to do last year so Lita and I started out before 6am to get it done before reporting to Paul's Smiths. On White Oak Rd , there is this little bridge that straddles a marshy stream. Both sides have nice views I chose to do the north side because there was a tall leaning pine that caught my eye last year as I painted the other side.

Lonesome Pine sold

After a hearty breakfast, we proceeded up to paint at the Paul Smith's Visitor Center. There Lita met up with Bruce and they went off to paint one of the marshes. Being so out of shape and my achilles tendon screaming, I went to the Butterfly garden area and was inspired by the black eyed susies. My apologies is if misnamed the flower not much of a gardener. I officially broke in my new Craig Young handmade palette doing flowers of all things.. I have to reshoot the painting but here is one of my models.

One of my models

What was so cool about painting at the center was meeting and talking with the visitors.  They were so enthusiastic and that energy does spur one on.  On the way to the back deck for painting #3 of the day, passed a bird handler with an owl telling stories. He related one when he was a newbie, in the North West, of an old female Big Horned owl. She wasn't particularly friendly and despised him. He entered the room where she sat on her perch and took off across the room dragging her 35lb perch and nailed him in the ear. He showed us the scar. He offered one of his Barn owl as a model but time was not on my side.  There on the deck met several local artists. 

View from Paul Smith Mt Regis

Now you would think after cranking out three paintings it would be nap time. Met up with the crew, Lita. Bruce and Richie. This was Richie's first travel paint out, from the pantry into the fire. We all have to start some where. My first  travel paint out was one up in Niagra Falls and had a blast. It cured me of performance anxiety of painting in public. It was like painting on a crowded subway train.

Anyway, we all went out to paint by an old bridge on Rt 3 heading up towards  Plattsburgh. Well, it was so nice, the light had a warmth to it and soon the bugs came a biting. Painting watercolor when you are tired and hungry leads to mistakes....figured out how to save the painting and then hosed it.

Bend on the  River

I have problems with reflections but there are elements that work.  Going to do a redo this one, in the near future. Did a painting outside of Lake Piesco several years ago, a swamp scene in oil. The reflections were off and it distorted the scene. Need to pay more attention to the big details, especially reflections. After a late dinner and a visit to friends who rented a house on Flower Lake, it was time to get some shut eye. We agreed to get on the road by 6am.

Back on Rt 3, across from a sand pit, there was this old birch tree that caught my eye the night before. felt good about my painting but it needed a little tweaking. Stopped across from the hospital to do a lake scene. Think I was attracted by the old birches that surrounded me. The finished painting left me flat and my tail was dragging. Did seven paintings in 3 days.  Went back to the motel and met up with the crew. It was now tweaking and framing time. We sat out at the motel painting, framing  and listening to good music. What a way to spend an afternoon. My tweaks led to the result of over painting my birch. After a quick Subway dinner, framed and restarted  my Old Birch painting, finished up in the wee  hours.  The tree  came out a bit chunkier than my early morning painting because it had to fit my only remaining frame and needed to enlarge the image. One thing I also learned from this trip for future  paint outs.... don't use unusual mat sizes. This is the first time and last time I will do that, it takes away from the flexibility of shifting paintings around in the frames. You also tend to paint for the frame and not for the view.

Old Birch on Rt 3

Sunday was show time. we hung three paintings each at the Town Hall. It is so humbling to be surrounded by great paintings. We had to leave so the work could be judged. The doors were open to the public at noon and several of my buddies won big prizes, congrats to Chrissy, Crista and Tarryl. They had a door prize table for the artists. I had sold my Lonesome Pine painting and scored a door prize. They had some nice prizes but being a "bag nut" spied a small messenger bag with Plein Air magazine on it. It turned out to be loaded with goodies. Again a good time was had by all. It is such a pretty area and the co ordinators of the event are so gracious to all the artists. Hope to be able to do it again next year.

Go north old woman

Go north old woman! That is the wake up call for tomorrow. Heading up to Delanson to visit my best friend and maybe do a little painting. The Leatherstocking region is complete with rolling hills and unique barns. One time when visiting Linda, noticed the barn doors have a distinct design to them unlike the ones in this area. Tried to find my photos of the barns from that trip but they probably were lost in the great "hard drive" crash of 2010. If I can't paint will  try and shoot some. My next stop will be with the Thrones up in Lake Piesco, their family has a house right on the lake. This year they worked hard to get a new steel roof on the place. We will be heading up to  the 2011 Adirondack Plein Air Festival at Saranac Lake, NY, August 18 - 21, 2011.

 On the road to Paul Smith's college

Last year was the first time we attended and my first trip to that area of New York. It was beautiful. The coordinators of the event were very gracious to the artists. We painted the town the first day and donated a 5x7 painting to an art group as a fund raiser. The next two days we explored the area and painted. We also found a cool BBQ place with a giant lobster at the gate. The food was great. The last day ended with my being the first to sell and Bruce Throne, Lita Throne, Christa Pisano, Tarryl  Gable, Laura Martinez Bianco  and others were prize winners. I included the link below of the Slide show from last years event.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp;jsessionid=1E4D2F4AD4830DD510334C6C5B44DB5E.ecom304_main?sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee&_requestid=222722

Hoping this year to be a fun time for myself and all my fellow artists. People have asked me, how can you call it fun having to produce a painting with a deadline while being at the influence of the elements, the heat, rain, cold, the bugs, etc. It is hard to explain but if you love what you are doing the rest doesn't matter. It is also the challenging yourself to do the best you can in a strange surrounding. I love it. Doing the, " let the sunshine" chant this week but throwing my rain gear in just in case. Have to finish my packing, art gear done, clothes and meds almost done but the electronic gathering of cables, battery chargers and such still not done.Later

Thursday Aug 11 Newburgh Water Front

This ia sort of last minute, I will be painting down in Newburgh along the waterfront or restaurant row, Thursday morning around 9 ish. Going to start out close to Torches. Really wanted to go to Long Dock but they were paving the road today. Don't think it is open full time yet. Love the view of Newburgh from Beacon. Later this season a definite painting site.

Going out on Thursday this week

Going out on Thursday this week, weather looks good but not sure Where to paint? Suggestions, welcomed.

River Front Park and more

Chuang Yen Monastery Kent, Ny

Along the Wallkill River, Montgomery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Painted this Monday at the Chuang Yen Monastery in Kent, NY and today at the RiverFront Park Montgomery, NY.  Sorry haven't learned to use the video on the new camera yet. They had large noisy carp in Kent and people came by to feed them, like sharks attacking the bread tossed to them.  Both places gave off a great vibe and beautiful.   Came home and cleaned both days. Anyone who knows me, I will do anything to get out of cleaning.  

Still need to finish both paintings. Trying to find an interesting place for next week but these two places are hard acts to follow.

 

 

River Front Park Montgomery, NY Wed Aug 3

 
Remembered  this spot along the Wallkill River. There is a large gazebo and a path along the river. Several years ago discovered this place by accident. The road goes thru a development and then there was this sign for a park. Early one morning  went down with my old Akita and strolled along the shore line. It was one of our favorite places to go chill together before she passed. I have very pleasant memories of the spot.




On RT 208 North of RT17K approx a mile on left. Make a left, the sign for the Barn Antiques












follow the road to a sign for Town Park on Farm Meadow St 
 continue thru development till you see a sign RiverFront Park.

Kingspoint Park, the beach side

Yesterday, I decided to paint the beach side of the Kingston Point Park. Didn't realize how beachy it is. People were sunbathing and a few were in the water. Sat under my umbrella which is something I normally don't do and it was actually pleasant.  Think the place was great and it beats travelling to the Jersey shore for a day in the sun. Can't wait to restart another painting of the tree and a catamaran. Learned a lesson yesterday, even being a multi tasker can't talk on the phone while trying to paint a sail or anyhing else.  Think I am turning into that crazy obsessed phone slave persona who can't put the phone down nor turn it off.

I haven't picked a place for next Wednesday yet but aiming for a more local venue, in Orange county. It has to offer a lot of shade since it will be hot and maybe near or on water. Any suggestions?

Lake Minnewaska

Well, it was very hot in the parking lot. Instead of whipping out my paints instead pulled out my ipad and started reading but at the same time observing. As hot as it was, I was truly impressed or stupified as bikers were unloading their bikes and preparing to ride in that heat. There were several families strolling down towards the lake noticed most did not speak English. They had that tourist spirit...don't care how hot it is I paid to get here and I'm going to see everything.A mom pulled up in her mini van. Sweating as she donned her Appliachian pack and herded 3 pre-schoolers towards the path to the lake. My mind snapped, it started a chant of.....no mas, go home! I wussed out and left after 2 hrs. Honestly was very anxious to get to Englewood Hospital and see my new grand nephew. Later that night, whipped out this little sketch of the undaunted bikers unloading their equipment.

Next Wed, July 27 Kingston Point Park, I will be in the Memorial Gazebo area. You have river views and a swampy area, you can walk down see the Kingston/Roundout Light House.

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Rte+300,+and+17k++Newburgh,+Orange,+New+York+12550&daddr=41.8479866,-74.0597144+to:Kingston+Point+Park+4+Delaware+Avenue,+Kingston,+NY&hl=en&ll=41.717005,-74.013519&spn=0.839533,1.365051&sll=41.71803,-73.999786&sspn=0.839519,1.365051&geocode=FTVPeQId7cqV-ymn1rbG0S3diTFh6186NXUPiQ%3BFbKMfgIdPvCV-ylTVuP3QxrdiTFKMpZUNQGscw%3BFcjEfwId5l2X-yFLNfb5gmfPUw&gl=us&mra=ls&t=h&z=10&via=1

So far Basha Kill, Bear Mountain, Alpine Boat basin

Along Haven Rd

 The First paint out started out at the Basha Kill. had to postpone because of bad weather but the following Wednesday was just gorgeous. It is a nature lovers wonderland in Sullivan County. Mary Evenlyn Whitehill, I and a turtle met on Haven Rd.  There the kayakers, fishermen and the red winged black birds were having a great time.

Study of Bear Mt Inn

 The following week met at Bear Mountain with Mary Sealfon, Jean Demotses, Esther McHenry, Phylis Tarlow and the ubiquitous Mary Evelyn. Esther and I painted the Inn. Let me rephrase that, I attempted to do the Inn. The heat made it hard to paint in wc, the brush was almost dry before it touched the paper. Taking a second look at my study and it gave me hope for a future studio piece.

Hey, that's me at the Alpine Pavilion

This week it was the Alpine Boat Basin. It has this great stone pavilion facing the river. It turned out also to be a trysting place.  Mona, Marylyn, Lynwa and I, stood in front of the pavilion and no one painted it. There is a boat dock and the historic Kearney house & tavern. Listed on the National and State Registries of Historic Places as the "Blackledge-Kearney House" but known more familiarly as the "Kearney House" or "Cornwallis Headquarters", this humble structure is the oldest building in the New Jersey Section of the Palisades Interstate Park. The southern half of the house, made of native stone and timbers, dates to before 1802. The northern, wood-frame section was added in the 1840s, the large porch in the early 1900s. Through its long life, the house has served as a Hudson River homestead, a tavern, a park police station, a caretaker's residence, and finally a museum. Today, it helps bring to life two centuries in the story of the Hudson River and those who have depended upon it for their lives and livelihoods. Hoping to do a painting of the Kearney House this weekend.
   

So next Wednesday July 20, it is Lake Minnewaska for my next paint out. Trying the to keep things as fresh as possible so the following week, Wed 27, it will be the Kingston Light House, weather permitting. I am also starting an album of my Wednesday paintings which will be in a future blog.

A New Adventure

     Welcome to my new Blog. The idea of blogging and sharing my thoughts and adventures to the world is not all together appealing. Though I love to share my art and the joy and traumas of producing it might encourage or help others. Here I am.

     I love painting outdoors and it reminds me of golf. Golf is not really a team sport. You alone try controlling a little white ball to roll into a little cup in a cow pasture while at the mercy of the elements, the terrain and yourself. At the end of the day, no matter how bad you played, you have the memory of that one good play, the shared laughter of friends, the beauty of nature or that damned sand trap. You were in the zone and turned off the outside world with all its drama and tedium of daily life. It is the same with painting, where you create your own view of the world and put that creative expierence in nature, wow!

     This year besides painting with Wallkill River School, who introduced me to plein air painting, and the Lower Hudson Valley Plein Air Painters decided to start my own traveling group. I want to visit as many different places this season, from the farms to the sea. Finding Wednesday to be a good day for a mid week adventure. I announce my destination on the WallkillRiverSchool.com site on their bulletin board, on the Lhvpap.ning.com, Facebook AIP (Artists in the Parks) and my FB page. Still toying with next weeks venue possibly the Kingston Lighthouse or ? .
     Since immersing myself this season into doing only watercolor, plein air has become more challenging. Having done watercolor several years ago, my standards have gotten higher.  It takes more thought in preparation in watercolor. Once the brush hits the paper it is off to the races. Yes, you can makes some corrections but if things start a down hill slide, it becomes do over time. After working 38 years of basically translating field information into usable data in the utility world.....hate doing things twice. It has taken me a year to let go of that feeling because to produce a better painting in watercolor eventually you will do things twice if not more.